


Compromised Quarters

by merryfortune



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Canon Divergent, Gen, Housing Insecurity, She/Her Pronouns for Roboppy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-20
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:21:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27639488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merryfortune/pseuds/merryfortune
Summary: Yusaku has to lay low when SOL Tech indisputably demonstrates that they knowexactlywhere Playmaker lives in the meat space.
Relationships: Fujiki Yuusaku & Kusanagi Shouichi
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18
Collections: Yu-Gi-Oh! It's Time to G-G-G-Gift! [Mini-Exchange]





	Compromised Quarters

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Hunter13Hawkie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hunter13Hawkie/gifts).



Yusaku didn’t even know that his security as Playmaker, or even just a seemingly ordinary teenager, had been compromised until he had come back from school.

He saw a familiar stranger, sitting in the gutter and Yusaku had tried to ignore him. Play it off cool. Pretend that he only knew who Onizuka Go was in passing: the washed up Charisma Duellist, not that he knew much about Charisma Duelling at all because, well, he didn’t have much interest in Duel Monsters or the Link VRAINS but even as all these lies festered in Yusaku’s mind as a security measure, it was too late.

As his path bowed so he could avoid Go, very difficult to do since he was so close to the straightest path to Yusaku’s door but Go’s arm flung out. Yusaku stopped in his tracks and held on tighter to his backpack.

“...Can I help you?” he asked.

Yusaku uncertainly eyed Go sideways, terrified - and that much wasn’t for sure because this was the first time anyone in his non-physical world had ever come to his physical world. Even Kusanagi only knew vaguely where he lived and that’s exactly how Yusaku intended to keep it. The less people who knew about his living situation, the better was how he saw it.

“I know you’re Playmaker.” Go said but his voice was a heavy, breathy sigh.

Yusaku flinched. “Haha… what?” He tried to force a laugh but it got stuck in his airways and wasn’t a pretty, or convincing, sound. “Playmaker like… the hacker Playmaker? What?”

“Don’t play dumb with me, Playmaker.” Go said and he rocketed to his feet.

He reached out and put his hand on Yusaku’s shoulder. It felt heavy, even when Go had lost so much of that bulk that he was famous for. Go shook his head and patted Yusaku.

“Go inside, get what you can, and scram. I’ll feed Queen the wrong info, tell her you’re in the wind or that this was only your secondary location. Anything to give you time. I’m so sorry.” Go said.

Yusaku gritted his teeth. “What are you talking about?”

“When I was really young, I didn’t have much of a choice. I lived in a dump just like that one until one day, I wandered off and never looked back. No one ever looked for him and so, one day, I ended up in a children’s home. An orphanage. Even from the bits and pieces I could give to the folks who worked there, they knew that my mother wasn’t gonna come look for me. She could barely look after herself.” Go rambled.

“I - I didn’t know that.” Yusaku half-lied. He knew of Go’s background as an orphan but he didn’t know it in the breadth. Now he did.

“My old, old place looks too similar to yours for comfort.” Go said. “Whether you wanna play dumb or not, if a different bounty hunter comes for you, like Blood Shepherd or someone, he mightn’t play so nice. I get you, kid.”

Yusaku was silent. “Please, just go away.” he said. “I told you. I’m not Playmaker, I’m not involved with SOL Tech-”

“Then how’d you know that Blood Shepherd and I’re SOL Tech?” Go asked.

Yusaku’s eyes widened. “I-I, um, lucky guess.”

“Please.” Go insisted. “Don’t make this harder on yourself. Seize the wind, Playmaker, and disappear. Lay low for a bit. I’m just hoping you have friends… anywhere, not even just in high places. I wish I could help you more but my hands are tied.”

Yusaku stayed silent in response to that. Go swallowed and left him alone. He slowly hobbled off and Yusaku stayed still, keeping Go at the fringe of his peripheries and once he had turned a corner, completely disappeared, Yusaku bolted for the door.

He abandoned his school bag at the door. He raced up the stairs and burst into his own room. The sound of the door hitting the wall was hollow but it echoed over and over in his head. He started tearing up his room. Making it look like a mess whilst he grabbed what he wanted from it, stuffing them in a duffle bag. Spare pairs of clothes, his already meagre amenities and then he just stopped. It was like he was a storm, a tempest, and now he had hit the eye.

He came to his knees as he tried to will himself forward. Time was so very precious, but he just needed a moment to break before he could start to fix this.

Ai very uncertainly rose out of his Duel Disc, head popping up, arms unfurling. He had been quiet up until now, trying to remain invisible so Onizuka couldn’t detect him but it was all for naught now. Aside from being quiet and in hiding, Ai didn’t know what else to be in this situation but now wasn’t the time for cowardice. He patted Yusaku’s hand; it gripped his knee so very hard the knuckles turned white. Looking up, Ai felt a tremor inside of himself. It wasn’t like Yusaku to cry. He didn’t even realise that this place meant all that much to him.

“There, there.” Ai shallowly offered.

He kept rising up from Yusaku’s Duel Disc. His body thinning and stretching like purple taffy from the shining pool of light below on the glass, he stroked Yusaku’s face and Yusaku twitched. He scrunched his nose up and tried to reject Ai’s affection but the sensation of Ai’s rubbery fingertips was oddly soothing.

“What’s the plan, big guy?” Ai asked.

Yusaku closed his eyes and took a whistling, snuffling breath through his nose. A pained grimace crossed his brow but his heart rate began to slow as he felt more oxygen into the brain but his eyes still stung with those tears. Very carefully, he told himself those near magical words: three things. Three things to live.

“First, I’m going to abandon this place. Make it look like the bounty hunters searched it. If Go and I are on the same wavelength, he’ll say that he did it.” Yusaku said.

Ai began to grin an Ignis grin. It was incredibly heartening to hear that assurance and calculation in Yusaku’s voice. His golden eyes began to crease and crinkle at the corners as he waited for Yusaku to say more. He was being very deliberate with how breathed to ensure his calmness.

“Second, I’m going to hide out.” Yusaku said and he reached out to Ai, taking a hand off his knee, and pet the top of Ai’s head. “I’m not alone any more. I’ve got allies to reach out to.”

“Yes, yes you do!” Ai far too enthusiastically replied; a verbal applause that Yusaku shrank away from.

“Third, I’m going to arrange a new living space for once this all blows over.” Yusaku said.

“Excellent, then let’s get you all packed up.” Ai said.

Yusaku nodded. He finally got up and Ai recoiled back into Yusaku’s Duel Disc. Yusaku grabbed a last couple things from his room and then zipped up the duffle bag. He headed back downstairs and Roboppy attempted to greet him. She happily waved him down and chirped about but she was flatly ignored.

“You are so cruel. Even to your cleaner bot.” Ai admonished him, trying to make a joke but it just landed poorly since things were very intense right now.

Paying no mind to either Ai or Roboppy, Yusaku just sideswiped her with his leg as he groped against the wall; where it was just inconspicuous enough to allude to the hidden log in den inside. Ai blinked as Yusaku set in a code. A detonation code, of all things. He glanced up at Yusaku again.

“Did you always think something like this would happen?” Ai asked, cautious, tentative.

“Yes.” Yusaku confessed. “But those plans are old. Only half good. Instead of doing it all by myself, I want to fall back on someone I know I can trust instead of, just, getting the hell out of town and staying away. I want to stay close. This is the epicentre, isn’t it? Where it all happened.”

“...Yeah.” Ai said.

Yusaku took a couple steps back and inside the sealed vault of his secret log-in chamber, they both heard of an explosion. Even Roboppy did. She squeaked and looked fit to jump out of her chassis having heard it.

“Master?” she exclaimed, wheeling up to him.

Yusaku bent down and grabbed her by her plastic scuff. “Come on, we’ve got to go.”

Yusaku kept Roboppy under his arm, her wheels to his hip and held tighter on his duffle bag. He took one steady blow and could smell the paneling inside the vault smoulder. It was an unpleasant odour, one he was doubtless would be the first thing the others who would be after Playmaker’s location would notice but he didn’t care. If the failsafe that he had kept inside it worked, any lingering data fragments should be entirely purged and fried by now.

Both Ai and Roboppy looked up at him, very different expressions on their faces but the same question.

“So where are we going?” Ai managed to ask first and was very grim about it.

Roboppy’s electronic facial expression blinked. A little bit puzzled.

Yusaku took a steadying breath, “To the person I know will protect me the best, my shield: Kusanagi, of course.”

“Aah, sleepover at the hot dog man’s place sounds nice.” Ai said, nodding.

Yusaku aimed himself for the door. To leave this place one last time. He held Roboppy tightly in his arms and his heart quaked in his chest. He didn’t think that he had much of an attachment to this place, as crummy and cold as it was, but it was a better home than a cardboard box, he supposed. He glanced around and kept going forward, he had to. Roboppy looked up at him, concerned, and for her and her alone, he smiled sweetly as that was the bravest face that she would accept.

With cargo as interesting as Ai and Roboppy, Yusaku felt the dire need to be as unconventional and untrackable as possible in getting to Kusanagi’s place. He knew the location and how to get there, on an unremarkable day, but the idea of being followed by eyes, real or electronic, made his skin crawl. He barely wanted to involve Kusanagi in this mess at all but he was too harrowed and unfortunately just clever enough to realise this wasn’t a situation which could resolve all on his little lonesome. Although, he had never been more grateful for his history as a loner than right now. He had never actually visited Kusanagi’s place before.

He had been extended many an invitation before. Come around for dinner, the hot water’s good so feel free to take a shower, do you need a place to crash? Kusanagi had tried and tried again to bait Yusaku to come visit but Yusaku always managed to evade. He always found an excuse, no matter how flimsy, and Kusanagi would give up for the day. Still, he would smile and try again later, be it tomorrow or next week, he never gave up on trying to coax Yusaku to that next stage of their relationship.

Yusaku’s rejections were stalwart and came from a place of awkward distress. He didn’t want to be vulnerable, even with the first person - who wasn’t his therapist - who had made him feel like it was okay to be vulnerable. Given what their path to revenge and the like had come to, it was probably a good thing that Yusaku had always bailed on those invitations.

Every speed camera, every security camera outside a jewellery shop, and even just the average passerby on the street felt like the most scrutinising evil as Yusaku tried to keep calm as he made his way to Kusanagi’s. His duffle bag was fine, conspicuous even, the same could be said for his old style Duel Disc, but keeping his perfectly functional cleaner robot in tow was a bit more difficult. Though, she did diffuse the tension when Yusaku was pretty much scared of his own shadow as he kept to blind spots, kept his head down, did whatever else he could do to seem otherwise invisible. 

His skin crawled and burned as he kept his head down and a hand over Roboppy’s face. Even Ai did his bit to remain unseen but as the train they took around looped and loped, they managed to get to Kusanagi’s district eventually without rousing too much suspicion. It was probably in this last leg of his escape plan to his safe place that Yusaku felt the most nervous. Disembarking then train and leaving the station, the lack of sunlight dizzied him. He didn’t realise how long he had been underground; he didn’t know if he was more or less safe under the cover of night and the neon glow of the cut streets. All he knew was that his stomach growled and his tongue was wagging at the thought of a home cooked dinner by Kusanagi.

In theory, he knew the area even though it wasn’t one that he frequented. But Yusaku spent a lot of time cyber stalking every cemented path in Den City so he stride forward with the knowledge that he knew where he was going. And he was. Every step was heart pounding but got him closer until he wound up at the right storey of the right apartment block.

It was a nicer-ish place than what Yusaku had thought that he would be arriving to. He didn’t get mugged or grabbed by Sol Tech so it was clearly safer than what all of Yusaku’s anxieties were trying to convince him. In fact, it seemed pretty normal around here. A lot of people who seemed to be first time apartment owners and college students; he heard the vague cheers of young people going out to hit the nightlife here and there. Standing in front of the door with the plaque with Kusanagi Residence penciled in beside it, Yusaku just hoped that his friend and partner would be home. The little night light above was on but that could mean anything, he worried.

Still. Yusaku stared at the door and his whole body felt leaden as he clutched his duffle bag and Roboppy. Ai flicked a glance up at him and Yusaku’s stomach squirmed.

“Here,” Ai finally said, “I’ll do the honours. You just… keep on. Keepin on.”

Ai leaned out of Yusaku’s Duel Disc and his little body stretched like taffy on a roller. He reached up and flicked the door bell a couple times incessantly, making Yusaku blush and even scold him. In his koala-like embrace, Roboppy laughed robotically, making Yusaku blush even further. At least he didn’t say the forbidden word in it.

From beyond and behind the front door, the three of them heard noises. Sleepy footsteps, a yawn.Yusaku didn’t think it was that late but he was a night owl so maybe he had misjudged. 

Still, it was very heartening to see Kusanagi’s face when the door opened. He looked a little beat and scruffy; he was wearing harem-style track pants and fluffy indoor slippers. He seemed a little bleary eyed at first but then his whole expression, casual, maybe a little confused, changed when he realised that he was staring at Yusaku who was still in his school uniform.

“Huh? Yusaku, wait… Roboppy? What brings you guys here?” he asked. 

Yusaku swallowed and his nose twitched with a sniffle. He surprised himself by not only getting emotional as his stiff upper lip would let him but by the fact that he was getting emotional at all. It was the barest hint of a tear in his eye but Kusanagi noticed it and he immediately grabbed Yusaku and brought him inside. The door slammed louder than intended behind them.

Yusaku took a breath and he looked over his shoulder at Kusanagi who was locking up tight.

“A lot brings us here.” Yusaku finally managed to reply to Kusanagi’s initial question in the doorway.

“Y-Yeah a lot of scary things.” Ai added.

“Scary things, scary things…” Roboppy sang before blinking, the electronic start up breaking up the silence. “Huh? Scary things? I thought we were going on an adventure.”

Kusanagi sighed. “Let’s sit down for this. I’ve got tea if you want some… I was gonna go for a shower but this seems… more important.”

“Do you have anything to eat?” Yusaku shyly asked. “I’m starving, kind of.”

“Yeah, totally, I’ve got leftovers, I can warm up. You go wait out on the lounge, I’m kinda grubby here, I don’t care much but get comfy. Y-You look like you’ve had a long day.” Kusanagi rambled.

“Thanks.” Yusaku replied, a little bit breathless.

He looked around and whilst there wasn’t much, Kusanagi pointed him to the living room just beyond the front door anyway. Yusaku meandered off, finally setting Roboppy down, and Kusanagi skulked into the kitchen as quick as he could so he could wrestle up something for Yusaku to eat.

Yusaku awkwardly sat down in the living room. He took off his Duel Disc and let Ai sit next to him. Roboppy explored, whirling and wheeling about in circles; Yusaku’s eyes couldn’t help but follow her as he tried to absorb his news surroundings. Sitting on the lounge, Yusaku felt vaguely crinkly. He didn’t know how else to describe it, but it was better than sitting on a bus or even on a seat inside a train.

Kusanagi’s place was, all in all, pretty basic. Better than his place, obviously. His old place, that is. But still.

The walls were a greying baby blue with white trims. It had a popcorn ceiling. The lounge looked old and used and not out of any catalogue that Yusaku had ever seen so it had likely been hauled from the side of some unused road there. Although, his television and console set up was quite a different story; he had a flat screen and the second last generation of a popular video game console set up. All the games he had ferreted away in the bookcase, along side a few books on coding, was a humble stack of sports game and first person shooters. 

Glancing back to the kitchen, and the rest of the apartment that Yusaku could glimpse from this vantage point. Still, the timer on the microwave went off and Kusanagi looked as though he could have jumped out of his skin when he heard it, after pacing about on the linoleum like he had been. He grabbed a tea towel and got out a bowl of some interesting look slop. From the smell, it was probably curry.

Kusanagi brought it back and sat next to Yusaku. It was a three seater lounge but for whatever reason, on Yusaku’s far side, Ai was taking up most of the room on it.

“Careful, it’s hot.” Kusanagi said. “But, uh, bon appetit.” 

“Thanks for the food.” Yusaku replied but he sounds genuinely, even earnestly grateful.

Kusanagi let Yusaku eat a few mouthfuls of his leftover curry before even thinking of asking any questions. Still, the silence and closeness was weirdly unfavourable but Yusaku liked the extra heat that he felt coming off Kusanagi rather than the bowl of curry. It was nice but it was still cold in the middle but anything was better than nothing.

“Homemade sauce or from the jar…?” Yusaku curiously asked, trying to break the ice.

“Jar.” Kusanagi said. “I’d love to try making a homemade sauce but I’m just. Busy. And tired.”

“Fair.” Yusaku replied.

Ai sighed sharply. “Aren’t you two just the life of the party?” he complained.

“Yeah.” Yusaku replied and he ate some more.

Even if it was from the jar and even if it was still cold in the middle, it was better than anything that he could have mustered up. He was a horrible cook but Kusanagi was anything but. Yusaku enjoyed it but Kusanagi couldn’t wait forever. He sighed through his nose and began to ask questions about what exactly transpired today because he knew that Yusaku wouldn’t be here if things weren’t dire.

Yusaku relayed the events of this afternoon to Kusanagi who listened gravely. Ai gave his opinion here and there, as well. And Yusaku, being a man of not many words, made the story short but concise but it was still enough to make Kusanagi’s stomach drop.

“I’m sorry, man.” Kusanagi said.

He lifted his hand and reached out to Yusaku, patting his back, holding him. Yusaku just stared at his bowl of leftover curry and still found it in himself to eat some more after telling his story.

“But you are more than welcome to stay here from here to… to, well, the end of time but I don’t think it’ll come to that. We’ll think somethin’ up, I swear. We’re the dream team.” Kusanagi said.

“I know.” Yusaku said and for a dour youth like he, he looked up and he smiled a small smile all for Kusanagi. “You’re my shield. I know you’ll protect me.”

“You can, um, you can sleep in Jin’s room, if you like. It’s a two bedroom apartment, you know.” Kusanagi said.

Yusaku’s eyes bugged and he stiffened. “I couldn’t.”

“I want you to, though.” Kusanagi insisted, gentle but firm. 

“Alright then… If I’m not intruding…” Yusaku murmured.

“You? Never. You’re like a little brother to me, you know. But, if you wanna sleep on the couch, that’s your prerogative.” Kusanagi said and the way he spun a joke in, it didn’t feel weird to Yusaku.

Yusaku smiled. His heart warmed and he heard Ai coo as well. He felt a wrinkle of laughter on his own lips and Kusanagi rubbed his back in rough, haphazard circles.

“Thanks, Kusanagi.” Yusaku said.

“I’m happy to take your things to your, um, room if you like.” Kusanagi offered. “You know, whilst you finish eating. Hell, feel free to raid the cupboards or fridge if you’re still hungry. But I’ll prep your room, if you like.”

“I’d appreciate that.” Yusaku replied.

“No worries.” Kusanagi said as he got to his feet.

The lounge wasn’t as heavy without him on it and Yusaku didn’t know why, but he disliked it. The extra weight was strangely securing but Kusanagi went and took his things. Yusaku watched and there was a tiny corridor just beyond the living room, where he had his back turned and he disappeared down there.

Yusaku finished eating afterwards. But he did the television on for Ai and Roboppy, he assumed that was allowed and he went back into the kitchen. He started cleaning up the bowl that Kusanagi had used for him but he must have heard the faucet turn on because he all but raced out of his room - Jin’s room - and Yusaku cringed.

Kusanagi smiled like it was no big deal as he came closer, “Don’t worry ‘bout it, bud, I’ll do it. You relax.”

“It’s fine. I want to.” Yusaku said through gritted teeth. “Besides, if I’m going to live here, no matter how long, I want to pull my weight.”

“Aw,” Kusanagi said and he patted the top of Yusaku’s head, surprising him, making him flinch, “alright then. At least let me help. I’ll wipe up.”

“Alright.” Yusaku relaxed.

Ai surged up from his spot on the lounge and hung over it, all bendy and waxy, and he wolf whistled. Quite the interesting thing for him to have done considering he didn’t have a mouth but the noise was shrill and inescapable. The two glared at him.

“Look at you both,” Ai said, “domestic bliss. You wouldn’t even think we have bounty hunters looking for us.”

“Ai.” Kusanagi roused on him.

Yusaku prickled but he kept doing the dishes. He turned on the hot water and started looking for the dish soap. Kusanagi found it first for him, handing it over and Yusaku squeezed it generously into the sink. He viciously scrubbed the soap over the bowl and Kusanagi laughed. Yusaku was so serious, no matter what he did but he was tired, too, Kusanagi noticed. He was stifling yawns here and there; the blue-black bags under his eyes as green as the dish soap that they had used, were blazingly obvious.

“There you go.” Yusaku said and handed over his bowl to Kusanagi; he placed the cutlery on the rack with its clean, dry kin that Kusanagi had used when he had had his own dinner.

“And how about you run along to bed?” Kusanagi suggested. “You look like the living dead, Yusaku.”

“...I wouldn’t mind it.” Yusaku admitted in a quiet voice.

“You’re toothbrush and stuff is on the bedside table in your room, but the bathroom is just over yonder.” Kusanagi said and he pointed to a closed door closer to the kitchen than the bedrooms and living room. “Got it?”

“Got it.” Yusaku replied softly.

“G’night, kiddo.” Kusanagi said.

“Good night, Kusanagi.” Yusaku replied again, although more awkwardly as he shuffled off, knowing he’d see Kusanagi within a couple seconds once he grabbed his toothbrush. And also probably Ai and maybe even Roboppy. He wasn’t sure what their living quarters would be yet.

Still, Yusaku swooped off and down the hall so he could brush his teeth. He was nervous to enter Jin’s room. He suspected that it was supposed to be Jin’s room and that Jin had never actually lived here thanks to being at the hospital. Yusaku just hoped that Kusanagi wasn’t nursing some heartbreak about that since he was still in the hospital, worse than ever since his soul had been snatched up by Lightning.

Taking the moment to dwell, half in his pyjamas and half in his school uniform as he tried to get change, it was a bit chilling. And not just because there was something of a draught after it being sealed up for so long thanks to the latest occurrence around them. 

Jin’s room was probably a bit younger than Kusanagi meant. There was an undercurrent of it being more fit to a twelve or thirteen year old than a sixteen year old but that was probably fine. There were books on the shelf; easy reads and manga, some school supplies. A soccer ball in the corner and soccer posters to match. There was a dresser adjacent to the single bed, tightly bound in neat sheets that never unfold and smelt slightly old, and Yusaku wasn’t game to open it but he wasn’t sure what he would be afraid of if he opened it. Certainly not spiders but maybe clothes that had never been worn. All in all, the room wasn’t lived in at all and his stuff looked incongruous on the floor.

Yusaku finished getting changed. This was the first time that Kusanagi would have ever seen him in his pyjamas. He just hoped they weren’t too shabby, the idea of wearing a pair of Jin’s, or worse, a hand-me-down from Kusanagi himself flustered Yusaku as he wandered out of Jin’s room, armed with a toothbrush. He wandered back out, a bit like an uncertain rabbit in a warren, and Kusanagi greeted him again.

He was doing something with the television’s remote and Ai was trying to take it off him. Awkwardly, Kusanagi did explain what he was doing. 

“I’m just trying to lock the subtitles and mute the TV so this one can watch stuff if he wants without disturbing us from sleep.” Kusanagi said.

“Right…” Yusaku replied and he carried on.

He found the bathroom alright. It was a little bit cramped and it was seashell themed for some reason but it was good enough for Yusaku. As he brushed his teeth, he thought about lively Kusanagi’s place was… and that he was probably the reason for it. He felt the pangs of regret as he brushed over his molars. Maybe he should have agreed to have visited sooner but what’s done was done, he supposed. He spat the foam out of his mouth and went for round two.

Yusaku brushed his teeth for another two minutes or so. He washed up and yawned. Yeah, he was very much ready to hit the hay now. He sluggishly slunk out of the bathroom and glimpsed Kusanagi again.

“G’night, Yusaku.” Kusanagi said again - and first.

“Yeah, good night.” Yusaku replied.

“Good night, Yusaku.” Ai piped up, likely petty that no one had wished him a good night specifically; not that he slept or anything, usually.

“I’m gonna turn lights out here, but give a yell if you need anything. Anything at all. I’ll be just across the hall.” Kusanagi insisted.

“Thank you.” Yusaku said, empathetically, eyes shining. “I mean it. From the bottom of my heart.”

Kusanagi smiled wide. “No problem, Yusaku.”

“Good night.” Yusaku said, thrice, feeling good about himself despite everything.

Kusanagi didn’t complete the feedback loop. Yusaku nodded and excused himself. He paced up to his room - Jin’s room - and closed the door behind him. It was dark so he walked slowly to his bedside. He lowered himself down onto the bed which felt extremely flat and even hard but he somehow managed to get comfortable. He wormed his way under the sheets and put his head to the pillow. In contrast, it was extremely soft. Even floppy. But snuggled in.

If strained his ears, he could hear Ai and Kusanagi bicker. He didn’t know why but he found it grounding. Heartwarming, too, perhaps more importantly. He sighed to himself on the exhale without thinking and then drew in another breath. It smelt very musty inside this room and kind of Kusanagi. It was nice. He had been wired all afternoon on adrenaline and anxiety but he was melting into the darkness right now in a way that he hadn’t expected that he would.

He thought the only way he would get some sleep tonight was if he was dead. Or just straight up knocked out. But that wasn’t the case at all.

Sol Tech Bounty Hunters… the Knights of Hanoi… Lightning’s Faction… All of that could wait until the morning. For now, Yusaku was tired and he was going to defy all expectations and get some well earned rest on the interim.

Yusaku felt oddly protected here. In the threshold of his partner’s trust, he could sleep well and that was beyond belief. The noises outside the room melded away as he slowed his breathing and fell asleep, blackly and dreamlessly. The last thing that Yusaku heard was the sound of a door closing opposite this room so he could only assume that Kusanagi had gone to bed as well. And so, Yusaku fell deeper asleep wishing the same for Kusanagi.


End file.
